The Michaels Organization Educational Foundation has awarded $85,500 to 58 students who reside at Michaels’ on and off-campus student living communities. These awards add to the record-breaking amount the foundation has already bestowed to Michaels residents in 2021, which now tops more than $1.2 million for the year.
“At Michaels, our mission is to create communities that lift lives,” said Michaels’ Executive Vice President, Michael Flanagan. “We believe that mission mandates an investment in our residents, and there is no better investment we can make than in someone’s education.”
The Michaels Organization, a national leader in residential real estate with comprehensive capabilities in development, property management, construction, and investment established the non-profit educational foundation 31 years ago, awarding scholarships to Michaels residents annually, as part of Michaels’ commitment to “giving back,” and “doing well by doing the extraordinary.”
The program, which began with scholarships for Michaels’ affordable housing residents was later expanded to include residents of the privatized military housing that Michaels owns and manages. When Michaels started developing and managing purpose built student housing, the program was expanded again to include Student Living residents.
All students who reside at a student living community owned or managed by Michaels who were registered for the Fall Semester at a college or university were invited to apply for the scholarship, which offers educational funds toward the Spring Semester 2022. The Michaels Student Living Scholarship program, which awarded $26,000 in scholarships in 2019, almost doubled the total amount gifted to Michaels Student Living residents in 2020, and now has doubled that to this year’s amount of $85,500. The number of applicants has increased each year as Michaels portfolio of on- and off-campus student housing has increased.
The 2021 Michaels Scholars include students from University of California Davis, Old Dominion University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, Texas A & M University, and the University of South Florida. Recipients include both undergraduate and graduate students.
This year recipients of the scholarships impressed the foundation with their incredible ambitions and scholarly pursuits, representing a wide range of majors from chemical engineering to political science.
Olena Kulish, a Scholar who’s pursuing a Master’s in Marketing from the University of South Florida, defied the odds and immigrated from Ukraine. After school, Olena plans to launch their own online educational platform where students from around the world can obtain quality knowledge in different fields while learning new skills. UC Davis student America Ramirez Lomeli is double majoring in Political Science and Sociology so they can one day be a lawyer or policymaker with the ability to inspire change. No matter a scholar’s background and unique path, these scholarship funds will go on to provide assistance through their journey.
About The Michaels Organization Educational Foundation: A non-profit affiliate of The Michaels Organization, The Michaels Organization Educational Foundation administers educational scholarship programs open to residents of housing communities owned or managed by companies of The Michaels Organization. Now in its 31th year of awarding scholarships, The Michaels Organization Educational Foundation was the first of its kind in the affordable housing industry when it was established by Michael and Patricia Levitt in 1991. Since then, the scholarship program has expanded to include residents of Michaels’ military and student living communities.
Published Dec. 10, 2021
